The Kawasaki Ki-56 ( ja, 一式貨物輸送機, Type 1 Freight Transport) was a Japanese two-engine light transport
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...
used during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It was known to the
Allies by the
reporting name
NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...
"Thalia". 121 were built between 1940 and 1943.
Design and development
The Kawasaki Ki-56 was derived from the
Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra
The Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra was an American civil passenger and cargo aircraft built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation during the late 1930s. An outgrowth of the earlier Model 10 Electra, the Model 14 was also developed into larger, ...
aircraft that the ''Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha'' (The Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Company Limited) had built under licence. In September 1939 Kawasaki was asked by the Koku Hombu to design an improved version as Ki-56. A number was also built by
Tachikawa Hikoki K.K.
Operational history
The Japanese invasion of
Sumatra in the
Dutch East Indies campaign began with a
paratroop drop from Ki-56 transports on Airfield P1 and the oil refineries near
Palembang.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...
fighters flying from P1 to locate the Japanese invasion fleet passed the incoming Ki-56s, but thought them to be friendly
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and p ...
s (also developed from the Lockheed Model 14) returning from a raid. The defending anti-aircraft gunners at P1 were equally fooled, until the parachutes began to open. Once the AA guns opened fire one transport was shot down, another force-landed, and others veered off course, but the paratroop drop was effective and the airfield and oil installations were overrun.
[Woodburn Kirby, p. 420.]
Specifications (Ki-56)
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
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External links
Pilot Friend
{{Allied reporting names
Ki-056, Kawasaki
World War II Japanese transport aircraft
Ki-056
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Twin-tail aircraft